Orleans Sheriff's Office to spend thousands on Super Bowl badges

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office will use money from its detail fund to purchase commemorative Super Bowl XLVII badges at a cost of $100 each.

NEW ORLEANS -

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office is planning to purchase commemorative Super Bowl badges for deputies using money from the agency's detail fund -- a move some are questioning in a time of fiscal belt-tightening.

The badges cost about $100 each, and it was not clear how many would be purchased. Officials were quick to stress none of the expense would come from general funds.

Not everyone contacted by WDSU took issue with the expenditure.

"In this case, the sheriff is obviously using it as a morale booster," state Rep. Joe Lopinto said. "This is a detail fund. It's dollars that go from deputies themselves that are working details. The money goes into this fund in order to be used for certain things -- whether it's a bulletproof vest, whether it's an extra radio."

But critics, including some deputies contacted by WDSU, believe spending the money on fancy badges takes it away from that potentially life-saving equipment.

"When it comes to detail money, it still seems to be money the public would rather see go into other places," criminologist John Penny said. "I think it calls into question, perhaps, an issue of prioritizing and using money for the best impact."

A spokesman for Sheriff Marlin Gusman did not answer requests for an interview, but defended the move in earlier email correspondence, explaining that, "no funds from the operational budget are being used at all... The NOPD is apparently purchasing more than double the (number of) badges of the OPSO."

But the New Orleans Police Department is not spending money -- from an operating fund, detail fund or any other source -- to purchase commemorative badges. Officials said employees wishing to wear one of the special Super Bowl badges will buy them individually.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office told WDSU the same thing.

Additionally, for reasons not immediately clear, the cost of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's badge is higher than for other agencies in the area. At several other departments, the customized badge costs $85.

The shields are offered through a company that touts them as the "only badge sanctioned and licensed by the NFL." The company said it sells the badges only to verified employees of law enforcement and emergency response agencies.

Earlier this year, The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office announced furloughs as a means to save money in the cash-strapped department.

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